In the Homeric period cavalry was not employed in battle, but princes and nobles drove about the field in chariots from which they descended to fight. The bodies of these chariots were just large enough for the warrior and his driver to stand side by side, since lightness and quickness of movement were essential. The chariot in the Third Room (fig. 120) is of the type in use among the Etruscans; the Greek type in the earliest pictures which we have is more open and slightly different in shape. An excellent representation of the Greek chariot may be seen on a large amphora on Pedestal R 3 in the same room, and this drawing also shows the light harness in use and the method of arranging it. War-chariots were used on occasion for racing, as at the funeral games of Patroklos in the Twenty-third Book of the Iliad; and at a later period, when nobles no longer rode to battle and armies of citizens were the rule in Greece, the chariot remained as a racing vehicle. The principal feature of the Olympic games from the year 680 B.C. was the chariot race for four horses, and a victory in this event brought much-coveted renown to the owner of the horses and his city. The Greeks of Italy and Sicily were devoted to this sport, their interest being reflected in their coin types, of which the finest are the Syracusan (fig. 121). Some examples will be found in the Ward Collection in the Gold Room. [Illustration: FIG. 120. BRONZE CHARIOT] [Illustration: FIG. 121. RACING CARS ON SYRACUSAN COINS] [Illustration: FIG. 122. LAMP. SCENE FROM THE CIRCUS] A very beautiful bronze statue found at Delphi, no doubt a dedication after a victory, represents a young charioteer in the long white chiton which was his traditional dress (Cast No. 462 in Gallery 22), and a fragment of a relief from the Mausoleum (Cast No. 741 on the east wall of Gallery 25) shows another with flying hair and garment as he strains forward toward the goal. One of the Panathenaic amphorai in the Third Room was a prize in a chariot race at Athens, as we know from the drawing on one side (fig. 123). Another event in the games at Athens was a race for two horses harnessed to a little cart in which the driver sat, but this contest was never so important as the race for four horses. At other games the chariot was the vehicle used for two horses as well as for four. These sports were naturally very costly, and under the Roman rule they gradually died out in Greece as races in the circus in Rome and other Italian cities took their place. Chariot races were the earliest of the free shows at Rome and were always the most popular, the great attraction of the circus being not the speed of the race, but its danger. Some clay lamps from Cyprus are decorated with reliefs of chariots and horses, showing how the passion for racing spread over the Roman world (Case 5, fig. 122). [Illustration: FIG. 123. PANATHENAIC AMPHORA CHARIOT RACE] [Illustration: FIG. 124. BIT USED IN TRAINING HORSES]